Red Wings at Blues
THE STORY: It has been a season of streaks for the Detroit Red
Wings, who saw their stretch of seven consecutive wins come to a halt in
Sunday's 4-2 loss at the Colorado Avalanche. If Detroit follows its
season-long pattern, the Red Wings are staring at a second straight
defeat when they visit the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Detroit has put
together winning streaks of five, four and seven games wrapped around a
pair of skids spanning six and two games. The Blues, on the other hand,
are trying to avert their first three-game losing streak of the season
after dropping their first two games in December. St. Louis, which
closed out November with four wins in a row, is 8-2-3 since Ken
Hitchcock took over as coach. Included in that stretch was a 2-1 home
victory over the Red Wings on Nov. 15.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Versus, TSN2
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (16-8-1):
Detroit gave up a shorthanded goal on the go-ahead tally in the loss to
Colorado. The Wings were also forced to play shorthanded when red-hot
Valtteri Filppula left the game in the first period when his shin was
cut by a skate blade. He had scored five goals in his previous five
games. Filppula needed stitches to close a small but deep cut. He didn’t
practice Monday and his status for Tuesday’s game is unclear.
ABOUT THE BLUES (14-9-3):
Left wing David Perron made a dramatic return to the lineup, scoring on
his first shot to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead against Chicago. Perron had
been sidelined for over a year because of a concussion. It went
downhill from there as the Blackhawks dominated and halted goaltender
Brian Elliott’s six-game winning streak. Perron’s contribution aside,
scoring continues to plague the Blues, who haven’t tallied more than two
goals in regulation for eight straight games.
OVERTIME:
1. Blues leading scorer Alex Steen has only one
goal in 19 career games against the Wings, but it was the game-winner in
last month’s matchup.
2. Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk is on a
tear with six goals and eight assists in his last nine games. He has 62
points in 53 games against St. Louis.